12 June 2026 · 6 min read
How to price what you're selling so it actually sells
Most items that sit unsold for weeks are not badly photographed — they are badly priced. A practical method for setting a price that moves.
The single most common reason a classified listing goes stale is price. Not the photos, not the description, not the day of the week you posted. If three comparable items nearby are priced 20% below yours, buyers simply skip you — they never message to negotiate, because there is nothing to negotiate about.
Here is the method we recommend, and it takes about fifteen minutes.
1. Find five real comparables, not two
Search your own category and city on Obilli, then check one or two other marketplaces. You want five listings for the same item in roughly the same condition, in the same city. Same city matters more than people expect: a used iPhone in Lagos and the same phone in Nairobi can differ by 25% because of import duties and local supply.
Write the five prices down. Ignore the outlier at the top — there is always someone asking double, and they are not selling either.
2. Adjust for condition honestly
Take the median of your five and adjust. A cracked screen, a missing charger, worn tyres, a scratch on the lid: each of these is worth a real deduction, and buyers will find them anyway when they inspect. Pricing at 'like new' for an item that isn't produces a wasted meetup and a bad review.
- Original box, receipt and accessories: add 5–10%.
- Visible cosmetic damage: deduct 10–15%.
- Functional fault, even a small one: deduct 25% and say what it is.
- Out of warranty on an item where warranty matters: deduct 10%.
3. Decide whether you want speed or maximum price
You cannot have both. If you need the money this week, price 10% under the median and mark the listing non-negotiable — a firm, slightly-low price gets more serious messages than a high price marked negotiable. If you can wait a month, price at the median and expect to haggle down to roughly that same number anyway.
4. Re-price after seven days of silence
Views without messages means the price is wrong. No views at all means the title or category is wrong. That distinction is the most useful diagnostic you have, and it is why we show a view count on every listing.
If you have had fifty views and no messages after a week, cut 10% and repost the change. It works far more often than rewriting the description.
A note on currency
If you are selling something imported — phones, laptops, car parts — quote in your local currency but keep an eye on the rate. Buyers across borders use our currency converter, and a price that looked reasonable last month may read as expensive today.